Lost in the Waves
by absent writer
Summary: When someone disappears from everyone's lives, how will the rest of the millenium spirits react? Hopefully YYxYB and slight MxYB pairings.
1. Chapter 1: Happily Ever Before

Please read and review, everybody!

Lost in the Waves

Chapter 1: Happily Ever Before

It was a dark night, and the bright light of the moon barely broke through the clouds to illuminate a boy running down Domino Pier from the town.

His hair shone as white as the moon, and tightly gripped in his left hand was a hastily folded burlap bag. As he ran down the beach it shook open, and a golden flash of light appeared that was hastily smothered by the boy as he shut the bag and clutched it closely to his chest.

Ignoring the numerous scrapes on his feet and legs he scrambled up a rock cliff looming over the ocean. He slowed as he neared the tip, his exhaustion clear. Panting slighty, he staggered toward the edge and glanced all around him, as if he had expected someone to have followed him. He glanced over the edge at the crashing waves below. His height above them was terrifying, and he reeled back when he finally glanced at the bag still held at his chest.

He carefully shook it so the object inside fell to the bottom, then tied a knot in the top to secure it. Then, carefully shuffling to the edge, he leaned back his arm, mustering all his strength, and hurled it over the edge. Silently through the night air it fell, and after a few long agonizing seconds it hit the water and sank swiftly, with a small splash.

Panting with exertion, the boy seemed misled. "That's it? I would have thought it would make a bigger splash…" he thought to himself. He had expected tidal waves rising up to illustrate the fury of the object in the water.

As he turned back to walk down the cliff, an unseen force dragged him along the ground. With horror, he realized that he was being dragged off the cliff, down to the water.

"It's the ring---" the thought ran across his mind as he fell over the edge and was pulled down to the water.

He hit the surface with devastating impact and was dragged underwater. Barely maintaining consciousness after the blow, he struggled against the water for air. And for freedom. At first his struggles were futile, indeed he could feel its grip, like icy hands, pulling him down, when the pressure of the ring began to drag on the cliff itself.

Boulders bigger than the boy fell into the water, nearly hitting him and landing directly onto the bag. Suddenly the force on the boy subsided, and he made it to the surface.

With large gasps he sucked in air, then swam with all his strength towards the shore, ignoring the pain in his legs and arms. At last staggering onto the wet sand, he sprinted away with newfound strength born of fear.

He disappeared into the night and the waves calmed, leaving no sign of the titanic struggle…

Several months later……..

"Joey, give it back!" a brown-haired girl yelled.

"Ah, c'mon. We're just having some fun!" yelled back a blond boy in swimming trunks.

Next to him a pointy-haired brunette named Tristan silently agreed.

The girl, Tea then took off in pursuit of Joey, who ran into the water, passing the inflated beach ball between him and Tristan.

"Sigh…they never learn" a small boy with multi-colored spiky hair laughed, and then turned to a tall girl next to him. "Has he ever, Serenity?"

"Nope"

"Oh well. Keeps things interesting, right Yami?"

Sitting on a towel in the sun, a nearly identical boy, with a large golden pendant around his neck, said, "Sure sure…"

Panting from his former sprint, Joey returned to Yugi's side and sat down, with the ball long gone and a handprint on his face. "Nothing like a good run!"

"Whatever you say, Jou" his sister responded.

"Say" he addressed Yugi, "When is Ryou coming back? He's already been in London for 3 weeks! I need him as a scapegoat for Tea!"

Tea, catching up with Jou, added, "Speaking of which, did he tell you that he was leaving, he didn't tell me! What was the rush?"

Deep in thought, Yugi returned quietly, "Maybe it had something to do with the ring. Didn't he just get it back from Malik?"

The last of the trio, Tristan arrived, dripping wet from being shoved into the ocean by Tea, "Actually, I asked him right before he got on the plane in the airport. He said that everything was under control. Maybe his…Yami..isn't in the ring anymore."

"Not likely", said Yugi's "twin", and everyone turned to him in surprise. "Right before we left the Battle Ship Marik warned me that he had escaped the Shadow Realm and had returned to the ring. So if everything is supposedly fine, Ryou must just have the ring under control."

"All he has to do is not wear it, anyway" yawned Joey.

"Hmmm" sighed Yami. He turned his gaze away from his friends, who began eagerly discussing what else to do over their summer vacation.

"Yami no Bakura. I haven't actually seen him since Battle City…" he closed his eyes and thought to himself, "Actually, it's been a while since I've seen anyone…"

Sensing through his mind link, which still remained to connect the two partners, Yugi turned to Yami anxiously and said, "Is everything okay? You seem upset about something."

"No, I'm fine. BC is over and everything's peaceful now, but it all seems so pointless now. Your school, vacation, what else is there to do?"

Yugi joked, "So you like it when the world is in danger?"

"No, but it's kind of boring now."

"Really? I think it's nice not to have the whole world on your shoulders. You need to relax once in a while."

Tea interrupted, "Hey guys! Anybody want to play volleyball with me?"

"Sure Tea!" Yugi yelled excitedly.

"Maybe later" Yami replied disinterestedly.

Yugi ran off after her down the beach, shouting over his shoulder, "See you later Yami!", leaving him alone on the towel facing the ocean.

Yami thought, "Relax huh…I can't relax! Everything seems peaceful now, but I can' forget that there are other Millenium spirits around, and likely with their own bodies! Ryou seems safe, he's in London now, but if the ring is still with him there aren't any guarantees of safety! The ring has tricked him before, back at Duelist Kingdom, it can always do it again."

He rolled over onto his back and looked at the pyramid-shaped puzzle hanging around his neck, then back out to the ocean. "Plus Marik and Malik are still out there. Marik's not so bad, but his counterpart is…unstable. Worse yet, I know he has his own body, cuz he's the one who showed us how to separate in the first place! But I wonder why he told us, I don't think it was to help me get out more…"

He looked up at the bright sun. "Dammit! Maybe I should call Ryou…no…I shouldn't bother him about it. He's visiting his father in who knows how long. Maybe I should got save Joey and Tristan instead…" A sweatdrop appeared on his head as he stared down the beach at the 2 boys, who were being held underwater by an irate Tea, with Serenity looking on in half-amusement/half-concern, with Yugi desperately trying to convince Tea to release them.

He chuckled lightly under his breath, "No guesses what they've been up to."

He strode down the sand toward the group to help out Joey and Tristan. The sun shining and reflecting off the ocean's waves gave off a golden sheen not necessarily that of the sky.

Don't forget to review! Tell me what you think, cuz this is my first YGO fic, plus I'm trying to make it yaoi so it'll be weird at times.

I'll update once I get 1 review or more, so if you're a rapid fanfic reader please hit the button below!


	2. Chapter 2: The Lost Soul

And here it is! Chapter 2, with thanks to "Yami and Bakura"!

Lost in the Waves

Chapter 2: The Lost Soul

At night the sea calmed and the surface was clear and dark, as if covered with a slick of oil…its depths undisturbed and unseen.

Under the black the blue water stretches endlessly down to the bottom, where piles of rocks and dead sea life are faintly visible. All colors are muted by the water, obscuring their clarity.

The only thing that interrupted the blue was a pair of slightly transparent brown eyes.

Hidden beneath the waves a malevolent spirit drifted, feeling neither the water nor the cold. With his bond to earth trapped under a pile of rock and plants, he could only drift unmoving through the water in his spirit form.

"How long have I been down here?"

"Ever since that brat threw the ring off the cliff and it collapsed on the bag I've been trapped down here."

Glancing around him over the endless rocks and crevices, he said silently, his voice unable to be heard, "There's no sense of time here, all I can see are glimmers of light from above. Night and day, night and day, I've lost count! All I can do is just wait around in spirit form. Useless body! I can't move the rocks off the ring, so I'm stuck here until someone finds me!"

Looking up at the light which passed right through his eyes, he said to himself, "But only _he_ knows I'm down here…for now. No doubt he's run away to this Britain place to hide from me and his 'friends'. Inevitably they'll ask about the ring, I suppose they can't trust me hanging around…heh heh."

"How did he manage it? It was those idiots, thanks to them my control over my former host was weakened and I got sealed into the ring. I suppose I could have drowned him here with me so when they came to look for his body I could have hitched a ride, but I underestimated the new power of the ring, the whole damned cliff collapsed on the ring, so I had to let him go!"

"All I can do is wait. Even trapped beneath all this rubble I'm still not completely powerless. A millennium item is not something you can just throw away. It always stays with you, in your mind and in your heart. Isn't that right Yami? Malik?"

"Hmph…I wonder if they miss me, though I'd rather not run into the latter again…"

He shuddered slightly, "Must be the cold of the ocean…heh heh…"

Meanwhile, back at the Kame Game shop…

Yami was working behind the counter of the shop, and Yugi was leaning against the counter, flipping through some old comics.

"Lame…lame…boring…one of Joey's 'special' magazines…hey Yami, what are you doing over there?" Yugi called out over his shoulder, putting down the magazine.

"Just looking for some more DDM sets in the back room. It's a good thing the Kame and Otogi game stores went into business together, or else you and your Grandpa would be out on the street by now" Yami called back.

"That applies to you too, y'know."

"Well, I'll have gone back into the puzzle."

----Yami's POV-----

It's so boring in the middle of the day here. At least it's better than this "school" Yugi is always complaining about.

---------Back to narrator's POV------------

Grandpa Mouto ran into the room, clutching a phone in his left hand and his right clamped over the receiver.

"Yugi! Yu---well, both of you! Ryou just called, he's coming back from England! He's on the plane right now, and he wants to know if we can pick him up" he said to the two boys.

"Sure we can" Yugi replied, "At least it'll give us something to do…"

"Would you rather work at the beef bowel restaurant?" Grandpa snapped.

"Of course we can, though it would deprive us of valuable and vastly educational employment time at this reputable game shop…he…he…(sweatdrop)" Yugi replied hastily.

"That's good to hear Yugi. I could have sworn you said something offensive about the shop" Grandpa said cheerfully, then shot a glowering stare over his shoulder at them as he shuffled out of the room.

"Ryou? You there? Yes, we'll come right away. Actually, we have a fun surprise for you waiting. You'll love it…" he trailed off out of earshot of Yami and Yugi.

Yugi asked uncertainly, "Does Ryou know that we got separate bodies now?"

"Actually, I don't think so. That ought to be a surprise, he'll probably think I'm your older brother or something…"

"Older?!"

"Well, you know…"

"Fine fine. Hey Grandpa! When does he get to the airport?"

"About 9:30 pm tonight!" Grandpa yelled back.

Ryou hung up the phone on the plane and thanked the flight attendant who smiled at him,

"No worries sir. Please return to your seat and enjoy the remainder of your flight".

"Thank you very much!" Ryou said cheerfully, then walked back to his seat.

Once he sat down he put his seatbelt back on and leaned back. "Well, that's one thing taken care of…"carefully avoiding a certain nagging thought.

"I can't believe I've had to return so soon, if only father hadn't had to leave for yet another expedition trip. I'd planned on staying away from Japan for at least a few more weeks!"

Searching through the pocket on the chair in front of him and taking out a magazine, he mumbled, "Fun in Japan. Yay…at least I'll get to see Yugi and everyone else again. I wonder what surprise they have for me that Mr. Motou was talking about? He sounded really happy, but kind of anxious about it. I hope he's okay…"

Out of the corner of his eye he spotted an open window. Leaning over to see out the small window, he saw nothing but clouds and the wing of the airplane. "It's beautiful out there…makes me feel sleepy though…"

Some clouds drifted over to the left, and he caught a glimpse of the sparkling turquoise ocean underneath. Rather than enjoy the sight, he shuddered and closed the window quietly and quickly. "Just what I need, another reminder. How long will this keep up? No matter how far I go, he never leaves me. I hope Yami no Yugi doesn't ask about the ring, I know he doesn't like the spirit, but he probably wouldn't want the item just lying around down there. But I had no choice! He'll probably ask though, I can't keep secrets from him for long."

Perusing the magazine somewhat distractedly, he thought to himself, "As long as Malik doesn't show up, I don't care what happens. I have enough problems with the millennium items right now…"

Suddenly the same flight attendant appeared at his right, "Excuse me sir, would you like a drink?"

"Oh…um, sure. Just water, and lots of ice."

As she poured out his drink, Ryou glanced toward the closed window and the empty seat next to him again, as if he expected someone to be looking back at him.

Don't forget to review! Especially if you think I messed up with YB's character, I'm trying to not to turn him into an emo, so advice is much appreciated!


	3. Chapter 3: Now It Gets Complicated

Lost in the Waves

Chapter 3: Now it Gets Complicated

At the airport, Joey, Yugi and Grandpa drifted about the terminal, waiting for Ryou to show up. It was dark outside, and there were few people within sight at the desolated gate. The few remaining open gift shops and restaurants were turning out the lights and putting up the steel grates, making the tall blonde even more impatient.

Joey shifted his feet and rubbed his hands together restlessly, "Where is he?! It's already 10 pm! Wasn't he supposed to be here by 9:30?" He kicked at an imaginary Ryou somewhere next to a tall, decorative plant and slumped onto a row of seats and shut his eyes.

Plopping down next to Joey, Yugi chimed in, "Yeah, I'm kind of tired too, are there any restaurants open here?" One glance around the terminal gave the group a no answer.

Exhausted from the drive, Grandpa looked back at them and replied, "I'm sure he'll be here soon, he's probably just getting his luggage. He had so much with him when he left, I was sure he was moving there permanently. Perhaps he had planned on visiting longer?"

Yugi said, while scanned down the halls in hope for a Burger King, "No, he did say he'd be gone awhile, but he said he'd be back by the end of summer for sure. Why would he move back anyway? I think his dad's still traveling in Egypt. Sounds fun. Right Joey?" he asked, shaking his friend, who had managed to doze off on half a row of seats, despite the armrests.

Joey shook himself awake and muttered, "Spirits, curses, tombs…I'd rather go to---Hey Ryou! Over here!" he suddenly yelled at the sight of the white-haired teen trotting toward them, with said luggage dragging behind him. He sat up, rejuvenated at the prospect of getting back home.

"Ryou, where were you? We waited for half an hour!" Yugi chirped anxiously.

"Sorry for the delay, but it took forever for all my bags to come through. I was worried I'd lose one of them…" Ryou replied.

"Phew!" Grandpa huffed as he heaved one of his suitcases over his shoulder, "This is heavy! Let's hurry and get back home…er…where do you live again?"

"Hm…my apartment should still be open but I left my key with the manager. Can I sleep over at your place until I get it back? As long as it's not a bother…"

"No, it's fine! You can just help out at the shop to pay it off!"

"Er…pay it off?" Ryou sweatdropped and glanced nervously over to Joey and Yugi, the former who could only stare back sympathetically. "No worries, only 2 hours or so and he'll be happy!" Yugi said obliviously, while Joey made desperate and crude sign language behind his back at Ryou, "He…is…lying?" he said slowly, trying to comprehend the signals.

"Oh…what have I gotten myself into now?" Ryou moaned as Grandpa Motou clamped his arm over his shoulders in a seemingly friendly way, though his grip was oddly strong.

After a long drive back to the Kame Game Shop…

"See you later Joey!" Yugi and Ryou yelled as the blonde walked back to his dad's apartment.

The two boys walked back inside the gameshop where Grandpa Mouto was waiting for them with the bags.

"Okay Ryou, you can take the spare bedroom, it's right down the hall." Grandpa instructed as he lugged the bags toward the room, with Yami, who had been waiting for the group to return, tailing him closely unseen by Ryou.

"Thanks, is there anything to eat in the kitchen? I hate those airline meals, so I haven't all day!" Ryou said earnestly, peering into what appeared to be the kitchen.

"I think there's some stuff to make a sandwich with" Yugi chirped helpfully, "C'mere, I'll show you!" and led him into the kitchen, where he promptly dived into the refrigerator.

As Ryou looked through the fridge, Yugi took out some bread and then glanced back at him. "I wonder if I should ask why he's back so suddenly, summer isn't even half over yet…" he thought. Steeling himself, he asked, "So Ryou…why are you back so soon from England? I thought you were coming back when school started."

"Well, I was, but my dad had to go back out on a dig, so I decided to spend my summer here instead. Is that all you wanted to know?" he replied without looking up. Meanwhile, Yugi walked out of the room in search of scissors to cut open a bag of bread. A nearly identical boy appeared, unbeknownst to Ryou.

"Actually, I have a good question for you." Yami broke in suddenly, striding into the kitchen. "I checked your luggage but it's not there. What did you do with the ring? I haven't seen it since the Battle Ship." He leaned against the fridge, crossing his arms and shot an interrogative glare.

"What?!" Ryou started nervously in surprise at the sight of the millennium spirit. "When did you trans---never mind. Well…I never got it back when the ring spirit and Marik…er…Malik had that shadow duel. I guess Malik has it now."

"I see" Yami said, "I thought you'd gotten it back so I was wondering what you did with it, seeing as how the spirit made it back into the ring. I guess even the Shadow Realm couldn't stop him."

"I know what can…" Ryou whispered softly under his breath. Again the image of the sea far beneath him floated up in his mind, both from the plane and from that dark night…"Ah!" Noticing Yami staring at him strangely, "So, never mind the sandwich. I've got some serious jet lag. Where's the guest bedroom again?" he asked Yugi, who had re-entered the room, mistaking him for Yami.

"Right down there, first door on your right!" Yugi said cheerfully and led him out of the room, leaving Yami behind.

"Hmmm" He muttered suspiciously. "I guess Malik has both the Rod and the Ring now. I thought the two spirits hated each other." He trotted off to his room across from Yugi's.

Once he got into his room and closed the door behind him, Ryou sank down to the floor in exhaustion. He sighed in relief, "Well, maybe he'll stop asking me about it now. As long as Marik or Malik doesn't show up, I'm fine…" A brief unpleasant memory swam across his mind and he shook his head. "Time to let it go, thanks. The ring is gone now. _He's_ gone now. God, I hope we don't go to the beach anytime soon. Suppose I get dragged down, or there's a tidal wave and the ring is released, or…okay, enough thinking. Time to sleep." He yawned and stepped into bed, not bothering to change out of his old clothes. The instant he closed his eyes he fell into a dreamless sleep.

Meanwhile, in Yugi's room…

As Yugi changed into his pajamas and finished brushing his teeth at the same time, Yami stepped into the room and softly closed the door behind him. "Yugi."

"Huh…oh! Urgh!" Yugi accidentally jammed the toothbrush into his mouth when Yami entered the room. "What is it Yami, you startled me!" He sputtered and pulled the toothbrush back out of his throat.

"Do you think Malik really has the ring with him?"

"I hope so, I wouldn't want the spirit in it running loose, but the thought of them working together isn't very good either. Do you think he still wants the puzzle?"

"Probably, though I'm a bit curious as to one thing."

"What is it?" Yugi replied without looking back at Yami as he sat down on the bed.

"It was Marik and Malik who told us in the first place how to gain separate bodies. Remember what he said right after that?"

"No."

"Right before we left the blimp he said, 'Be sure to mention that to your little white-haired gaming buddy too.'?"

"Oh, yeah! Why do you think he said that? Now that I think of it, when we left the Battle Ship Ryou seemed kind of distracted. I'd just assumed he was worried about the ring, but if he never got it back, what was he so worried about? He didn't even say good-bye!"

"That's true!" Yami said as he sat down next to Yugi, "In fact, I didn't even see him for the next few days. Then one day he showed up at the Game Shop and said he'd be visiting his father till the end of summer. It was so sudden, I forgot to tell him about the spell. We hadn't even tried it for ourselves yet…"

"And here he is again. Should we ask him about it?"

"No, it seemed like he didn't even want to talk about it. I'd ask Marik about it, but I'm sure Malik knows everything he knows. Even if we have separate bodies a mind link is still there. I don't want to let him know anything about this, especially if the evil spirit is with him!"

"Okay then, we'll call him later. Maybe in the morning. Good night then." Yugi called after Yami as he left the room.

"Goodnight…" he heard as he turned out the lights and went to sleep.

Back in his darkened room, Yami obviously could not go to sleep. He paced to and fro. "What happened to the ring? Why would Malik have such an interest in Ryou anyway? They barely knew each other. I don't think they even ever met, yet that look in his eyes when he talked about Ryou, it was frightening, that look. Kind of familiar too…" he raged inwardly.

At last he crawled into bed and cast out his thoughts. "Marik huh? I assume he has his own body from Malik now, but I still don't trust him. He may not be as bad as Malik, but Malik isn't a sealed spirit of the rod! He just a bad part of Marik's already 'charming' personality. Just two birds of a feather, I don't know why Yugi trusts him to ask about the Millenium items. Then again, this spell did work perfectly. At least for now…" Yami yawned and drifted into sleep at last.

And sleep and darkness reigned over the house till the morning arrived.

As usual, don't forget to review!


	4. Chapter 4: Old FriendsOld Enemies

Lost in the Waves

Chapter 4: Old Friends/Old Enemies

Ryou staggered into the kitchen, still suffering from jet lag. "Breakfast, breakfast…" he muttered under his breath as he peered into the cabinets in search of something to eat. Suddenly, out of nowhere he heard a-----

"MORNING RYOU!"

"Gaaaah!" Ryou yelled and stumbled against the counter in the kitchen. "Well, that woke me up…"

"Sorry about that!" Yugi said, still in his signature sky blue pajamas, "But I just felt so awake this morning. It's really nice to have someone new in the house!" Suddenly his taller self entered the room. "Morning Yami!"

"Morning who?" Ryou asked as he glanced up at Yugi. Yugi silently and, suppressing a laugh, pointed toward the doorway. Ryou's gaze followed his finger to the figure in the doorway. When he caught sight of Yami, he reeled back. "What the?! How did---why are you---what's going on here?" he babbled staring and pointing at the two Yugi's.

"Good morning Ryou. Did you have a good night's rest---oh…" Grandpa Mouto said, walking into the kitchen. "Oh, boy. Now Ryou, I think we owe you an explanation."

"Then go ahead" the white-haired teen commanded, still wide-eyed.

"Well…uh…long story short, Yami and Yugi have separate bodies now! I'll leave the rest to them to explain!" he said hastily as he backed out of the room.

"Why that old…, so Ryou…" Yami said looking at the Ryou who was now poking his skin to check its authenticity. "It's kind of hard to explain, but I am now able to take on a physical form. As long as I have the Millenium Puzzle on me I can maintain a physical body. When I'm in it, I still have to eat and drink, but I'm not sure if it ages yet."

"He's only had it for about two months now. Just since about when summer vacation started." Yugi added. "Big surprise, huh Ryou?"

"But, how did you learn how to do this? I thought you didn't know how to use the Puzzle's power…" He mumbled anxiously as his eyes flicked from one Yugi to the other, clearly comparing them. He secretly thought to himself, "If they can take on a separate form, then can---?"

"Actually, Malik gave the spell to us." Yami said, confirming Ryou's worst fears.

"Malik?! Are you sure it wasn't Marik?" Ryou shouted while backing away from Yami.

"Well, yes. He asked about you too, by the way. He said we should give the spell to you too, but since you don't have the ring, you don't need it anymore, right?"

"But…but…are you feeling okay? You can't trust him, either Malik or Marik, but especially Malik!"

"Well, for now I'm okay. But I still don't know why he gave the spell to us. I was hoping that you would know."

"Oh! Um…" Ryou stuttered nervously, "I don't know why he would ask about me. I guess he wanted all the spirits to have their own bodies or something…"

"But why would he want you to have the spell if he has the Ring?"

The white-haired teen was silenced as he looked from one Yugi to the other. He had no answer to get himself out of this one and was desperately trying to come up with one when thankfully, Grandpa walked back into the room.

"So did you explain it to him? Cuz, to be honest, I just didn't know what to say!" he interrupted cheerfully. "Now then, Ryou, let's work out your new working hours to pay off that night's stay then, shall we?"

"Yeah, sure!" he replied enthusiastically and took the opportunity to escape the room.

Left alone in the kitchen, Yugi asked Yami, "Do you know the answer to that question?"

"Well, either Bakura would need his host somehow to form a new body, just like we did, or Ryou's lying."

"No way! You should trust him more. And why would he lie?"

"Never mind."

"Well, alright then. Oh look! Here come Joey and the gang!" Yugi yelled excitedly, looking out the window and pointing at the group of teens walking down the street towards the shop.

"They must be here to surprise Ryou" Yami said as he went to open the door. "Hey guys!"

"Yami! Yugi! Where's Ryou? Joey told us he came back last night!" Tea said.

"Yeah, where is he? First he leaves without telling us, then he comes back without telling us. What's with him?!" Joey yelled angrily. "Just wait until I get my hands on him…" he muttered stepping inside, "I'll---" he stopped, stunned at the sight before him.

With Grandpa proudly stepping aside, Ryou was revealed. He wore a large blue apron with KAME GAME SHOP printed across it, with a handkerchief tied over his white hair.

"Um…hi Ryou…" Joey said disbelievingly. "Well, I guess I don't need to do anything now…" he muttered to the rest of the group.

In response to the sight of Tea, Serenity, Joey, Tristan, and the two Yugi's staring at him, the new day employee of the game shop had only one thing to say.

"Don't you dare say a word."

Once again at the Kame Game Shop…

Ryou wiped off his hands and got ready for a lunch break. Joey, Tristan, Tea, and Serenity were sitting in the Moutos' living room, waiting to interrogate him.

As soon as he entered the room, taking off the apron and handkerchief, Joey opened with the first question, "So Ryou…WHY DID YOU LEAVE?!"

"Oh! Well, my dad wanted me to visit him and he got me plane tickets, but they were for that very same day so I had to leave in a hurry…"

"AND WHY ARE YOU BACK SO SOON?!"

"Um…my dad had to leave unexpectedly for a trip, so I headed back here as soon as possible to see you guys again and spend my summer here in Japan!" Ryou replied anxiously, hoping to placate the irate teen. He edged back in his seat and looked for sympathy among the rest of his friends.

"Calm down boy!" Tea yelled and smacked Joey on the head. "So how was your trip Ryou?" she asked gently.

"Well…" Ryou began as Yami and Yugi left the room into the kitchen.

"What is it Yugi?" asked Yami of the smaller boy. "What did you want to ask me?"

"I was wondering…Ryou's back but we're still not really clear on the status of the ring. Malik supposedly has it, but the pieces just won't add up…" Yugi said. Yami observed the younger boy with pride, "At least you've noticed" he said, "Just what I would've expected of the person who could solve the puzzle."

"Thanks, anyway, I was wondering if we should call Marik. He's probably still with Malik, so maybe he'd know what's going on, if there is something going on…"

"No need to" Yami said looking away from his partner out the window, where two easily identifiable dark blonde boys were walking up the driveway…

--------------Author's Comments on Above Chapter-------------

Dun dun dun!!!!!!!!!! I finally brought in M/M. Just to let you know, Malik is the psycho rod guy and Marik is the somewhat good guy (technically not in this story).

Sorry if everything is moving a little slow, and YB keeps disappearing, and the writing's pretty bad, but I promise the plot will get better soon.

Tell me what you think of the writing, I'm trying to be more descript but I keep running out of synonyms for he said or she said.

As always, DO NOT FORGET TO REVIEW because I'm lazy and need a horde of angry readers to threaten to lynch me before I update.


	5. Chapter 5: Unanswered Questions

Lost in the Waves

Chapter 5: Unanswered Questions

Yami and Yugi rushed back into the living room from the kitchen. The rest of the group looked up at them.

"Why the rush?" Joey asked when the automatic beep from the game shop counter signified a customer.

Naturally following his store-keeper's instincts and ignoring Yugi's panicked look, Grandpa headed over to the front store room to greet the "customers", with Ryou tailing behind, tying on his apron.

Entering the room, Grandpa called out, "How can I help you---! Marik?! What are you doing he---"

"Out of the way old man!" the older boy, Malik, growled as he shoved Grandpa into the counter and stalked toward Ryou, who upon sight of the two boys had made a quick turn-around back into the living room.

Joey and the others stood up quickly when they saw Ryou rush into the room and run into Yami in his haste to escape Malik, who soon caught up and forced him into a chair.

Pointing the Millenium Rod at his throat, he yelled, "Where is he?!"

"I-I don't know what you're talking about…" Ryou stuttered as he looked around the room frantically for help.

Malik impatiently jabbed the sharpened edge of the rod into his throat and repeated his question, "Yes, you do know what I'm talking about. The---"

Suddenly he was knocked aside by Yami, who then stood in front of Ryou protectively.

"What do you want Malik?!"

"Keh keh…I just wanted to ask that little white rat down there a question or two, that's all…" he replied nastily, glaring down at the said person.

Finally catching up with Malik, Marik added, "That's all, okay? No need to get so violent, either of you!"

"Fine then. What did you want to ask him about?"

"Allow me!" Malik growled as he shoved Yami aside and reached into his vest pocket, removing a familiar golden item.

"The millennium key?!" Yugi and Yami gasped disbelievingly, "How did you get---"

"I'll be sure to answer your questions later, but now---" he pointed the key at Ryou's forehead and turned it, "There is something I need to confirm!"

For a single instant Ryou slumped, his eyes blank, and Malik was temporarily the same before his eyes cleared and he placed the key back into his pocket and pointed the rod at Ryou again. "Now it is time for my question again. Where is he?!"

"What? Who?" Yami said.

"The spirit of the ring, of course!" Malik countered.

A deep sense of confusion spread throughout the room, as everyone processed this new development. Yami thought to himself, "Wait…if Malik doesn't know where the spirit is, then he doesn't have the ring, so…" and he turned toward Ryou.

All eyes in the room landed on the huddled boy in the chair, who had regained consciousness. Keenly aware of the impending questions as well as the sharp edge of the rod at his throat, he knew he had been found out. "Wait…" he thought, "There's still one thing they do not and will not know!"

"Ryou…" Yami asked hesitatingly, "Do you have the ring with you?"

Confident, as he was technically speaking the truth, Ryou replied firmly, "No."

"So Malik has it?"

"No."

"What?! I knew it!" Malik yelled, "What did you do with it? I searched your mind, and the spirit is gone. It's like his soul room has completely vanished!" He raised the rod above his head again when Marik hesitantly held his arm back. Malik snarled at him and turned back to the boy.

At this, everyone turned to Ryou again, who this time faced down their stares. "So you did get the ring back on the Battle Ship?" Yugi asked nervously.

"Yes" Ryou replied, eyes downcast. "But I don't have it anymore."

"Then…where is it?' Malik's question repeated it self silently in the room.

"And…I'm not telling you where it is!" he said finally.

"What?!" Malik yelled. He ground the edge of the rod even deeper into the boy's throat, and a small drop of blood trickled down his neck, staining his shirt. He leaned over and whispered hoarsely into his ear, "I would rather not damage that body…but I will if I have to…so why don't you just tell me where it is?" He loosened his grip on the rod slightly with an uncharacteristically tender expression on his face.

Ryou shivered slightly at this new tactic and sat up in his chair. "All you need to know, is that as far as I'm concerned it's gone, and the spirit within it is gone too. Even you couldn't find it!" he said to Malik. "You've searched with the rod, haven't you?"

"Yes…yes we have" Marik assented, "But something is blocking us from it!"

Meanwhile, the Pharoah was still horror-struck at what Ryou had said. "The ring…Bakura…gone? That doesn't even make sense…" An image flashed in his mind of the vengeful ghost of the ring in their duel together on the Battle Ship.

----------------------------Flashback----------------------------------

"Ten seconds!" one of Kaiba's guards yelled at Yami, who stood facing Ryou on the other end of the dueling field.

His opponent kneeled on the ground, clutching his heavily bleeding arm, while the fierce winds blew past him.

"But…what am I supposed to do? Winning this duel isn't worth Ryou's life!"

While Yami had been trying to think of a solution desperately, inside of the crouching teen's head a silent conversation went on between the two spirits within him. Unknowingly to him, one of them had just reached a conclusion.

The millennium ring dangling loosely around his neck glowed, and the boy's apparent weakness seemed to subside, and he stood up once again to face the sky dragon dominating the field.

"Bakura!" Yami yelled in surprise.

"Yugi…I'll let you win this time! Attack me! Don't worry, your little gaming buddy won't die! So strike!"

The silvery-haired spirit thought to himself, "Heh heh…I need this host in the end to gain the power of darkness…"

"DO IT! YUGI!!!"

"You asked for it!" He turned to the massive red dragon above him and commanded, "Slifer! ATTACK!! THUNDER FORCE!!!"

As the electrical charge within the dragon's mouth began to build up, the spirit gave a last few thoughts before he was banished to the ring's confines once again.

"H-heh heh heh…I'll let you have this duel…But in the end, the power of darkness _will_be mine! This boy's weak soul…this fragile body…they exist only for that day! The day I collect all the millennium items! That day that you, Yugi, will truly die!"

"H-ha ha ha ha ha!!!!!" he laughed maniacally and mysteriously for the owner of the dragon whose attack was now bearing down on him…

-------------------------------End Flashback------------------------------

"Wait a minute! Wait a minute!" Joey added, as Yami shook his head and returned to the present. "How could you get rid of the ring?! I thought it was impossible to get rid of that spirit in it!"

"Well, it was. But when Malik gave me that spell to seal the spirit back into the ring…" Ryou said.

"No!" Malik interrupted, "I gave that spell to Bakura---! Wait, it was you wasn't it?!"

"Yes…" Ryou muttered, "Luckily the spirit wasn't there at the time!"

When Malik and Yami recoiled in shock, Ryou stood up, snatched the Millenium Key from Malik's hand and ran out of the room. Yami snapped out of his gaze and attempted to follow him. He was blocked by Malik, who sent out a warning call after the boy, "Don't think this is over, I will figure out where the ring is, even if I have to go through you!" He then finally left the room, dragging his doppelganger behind him, and it wasn't until the front door of the game shop slammed behind them that everyone finally relaxed and sighed in relief.

"So" Joey said to break the silence, "What do we do now?"

"Maybe Yami can find out from Ryou what happened to the ring…" Tea said hesitantly.

Ryou rushed into his room down the hall and closed the door behind him, the millennium key still tightly gripped in his hand. "I can't believe I overlooked this! Now everyone knows!" He began pacing around the room. "But still, obviously they can't find him using the items, so as long as I don't tell anyone he'll stay down there for good, and I'll be free…"

Suddenly Yami opened the door and stepped inside. Ryou started, then relaxed on seeing it was just Yami and not Malik, "I'd rather not talk right now" he said softly.

"I know, but there's something you need to tell me…"

"Fine then…what?"

"What did you do with the ring?"

"That I'm not answering!"

"Okay then…how about this. How were you able to get rid of it? Even when Tristan threw it into the forest it still made its way back to you. Yet you seem so certain that it won't be coming back."

"Let's just say that the ring isn't in the Shadow Realm, but we don't need to worry about it any longer okay? Let's drop the subject!"

"Well, all right then" Yami said softly as he left the room. Once back in his own room, the question that he had deliberately left unanswered, yet the one he had desired most to know was, "And where is the spirit?"


	6. Chapter 6: Ruins

Chapter 6: Ruins

-----------------------Back beneath the waves…----------------------------

It was a dark and stormy night, and……

(Just kidding, that's the most cliché beginning ever! Anyway…)

-------------------------Back beneath the waves--------------------

It was near midnight, and dark grey clouds obscured the stars in the sky, so that no light could penetrate the surface of the broiling ocean.

Underneath the waves, the only light shone dimly from a pale figure hovering over a pile of rubble. He was no human, as one could see right through him.

"Blasted rocks! I can't leave the ring too far behind, even the beach is beyond my sight!" the spirit snarled angrily to no one in particular. He folded his arms and legs and concentrated, and he shot about ten meters towards the surface, away from the rocky ocean bottom when he was brought to a sudden stop, as if he had crashed into an invisible wall.

Sighing in frustration, he muttered, "Still, I can detect the presence of millennium items nearby, probably in the city. Especially Malik's rod, it keeps giving off these power waves…"

He paused for a moment, then looked wildly around him, "He's searching for me again…for the ring, but the layer of rock surrounding it blocks him. He's been doing it for the last few weeks, he must be desperate by now!"

"Of course, surrounded by all this blue constantly is driving me mad as well…dammit! I can't wait any longer! I'd use the ring to move the rocks aside and float to the surface, but what then? Without a host the ring would just float away out to sea…even if I could find one I don't think I could use the ring anyway…not in the sorry state it's in now…" he glanced down, an through a minuscule crack in the huge pile of rubble he could see the millennium item. What once shone gold was now encrusted with dirt and algae, the smooth circle was bent beyond recognition, and part of it had clearly been crushed. It was as if it had been there for years on end.

Overhead, unbeknownst to the spirit beneath the surface, a storm raged. The winds blew fiercely and created huge waves and currents. The boats docked at the harbor pulled on their tethers ominously, with every wave nearly being pulled out to sea.

Despite the violence on the surface there was little effect down below. Yet, for all its efforts the huge storm only managed to shift a few rocks on the ocean bottom, and a glimmer of gold light pulsed out from the seemingly dead object between a few newly formed cracks, as if sending out a signal.

In an empty park, with the moon overhead barely shining through the murky clouds, two boys sat together in the middle of a flat grassy field, under the shade of some tall trees. A large sign nearby identified the place as Domino Park.

The taller boy, with more upright hair, held a long golden object. He stabbed the pointed tip into the ground, so much so that when he released it that it stood upright on its own. It wavered slightly, but rather than swing in all directions as it had done every night for the last three weeks, it tipped and pointed, quivering slightly, in a single direction, towards the heart of the storm.

"Domino Pier, eh?"

---------------------------------In the city--------------------------------------

The next morning at Kame Game Shop, Ryou slowly got up out of bed and opened the door just a crack. He peeked outside, and once the way was clear he stealthily crept out into the hallway. Fully dressed with his shoes in one hand and some of his luggage in the other, he sneaked towards the front door. Meanwhile, the three Mouto's were watching him from behind the front counter.

"Looks like he's trying to escape, should we stop him?" whispered Yugi.

Contrary to the small boy's expectations, the taller boy kneeling next to him replied softly, "No…I spoke to him last night, it's no good keeping him here. I don't think he'll talk today…" Silently the group watched as Ryou opened the door and slipped out.

"Where do you think he's going?" Grandpa asked, now that he was gone.

"Probably to his apartment downtown. We've been there before…" Yugi said and suddenly paused. Both he and Yami received an unpleasant reminder of their first meeting with Ryou's dual personality in the role-playing game.

Through their mind link, Yugi felt, rather than heard Yami's pain at this recollection. He sent a silent message to his partner, _Are you okay?_

_Yes, yes, I was just thinking, how much has changed since then?_

_How do you mean?_

_Well, back when we first met Ryou and the ring spirit we were all virtual strangers, he was just another random opponent, which you have to admit have appeared to me a lot over the last few months. _

_Well, I can't argue that. It's strange though, it seems like everything's happening all at once. I mean, once I solved the puzzle and you appeared, suddenly all the other millennium items kept showing up, along with their owners…_

_Yes, and since then all these connections are being made. Both Bakura's and Malik's grudges against me, some sort of ancient history…but when everything seemed normal again after the Battle City finals you'll recall that I wasn't happy at all, and now that all this complications from the Battle Ship are coming up I don't know what to think…_

_Are you regretting losing a peaceful life now? _Yugi was slightly amused and sent a glance to the spirit.

_I just don't like my past coming back to haunt my present. That's all._ Yami stood up and walked back into his room, with a silenced Yugi staring at his back.

Meanwhile, on a downtown street…

Ryou, after a long walk made even more difficult by the luggage he was carrying over his shoulder, finally saw a familiar building rise over the trees. He slumped, and then broke into a run towards his apartment building as if it were an oasis in the desert.

After a few quick words with the manager, Ryou got back his keys and went into the elevator. On the fifth floor he got off and headed to his door. Turning the key in the lock, he turned his head and reached back to haul in his luggage, not noticing that the room was already occupied.

"Ahlan wa Sahlan Ryou" (Hello Ryou in Arabic. Going for realism here—Author's note)

The startled boy tried to slam the door shut, but Marik grabbed his wrist and pulled him inside, luggage and all. He twisted his arm behind his back and shoved him towards the figure seated in a chair in the middle of the room, facing the doorway.

"No need to worry…" Malik said sneeringly. "We just came to pay a visit to welcome you home. And maybe have a little reunion too."

"Wh-what do you mean?" Ryou asked slowly, as a growing fear built up in the back of his mind. "Do they know?" he thought to himself.

Malik stood up from his chair and stalked over to Ryou, pulling the kneeling boy up by his shirt collar. "Marik and I were just doing a little…hm…divining the other evening and something rather curious happened. The Rod pointed us straight to the Pier, but once we got there it only directed us to the ocean. Now, the rod has never failed me before, so I have a feeling you can explain this!" Malik growled into the boy's face.

"I-I can explain…" he replied hesitatingly.

"Then explain" Malik said agreeably as he dropped him and leaned against the wall.

Ryou, meanwhile, was thinking fast. So now his secret was out. But the spirit in the ring was still kept silent and away from him. Maybe that spell he had placed on him would continue to work, there was no reason that it would stop now. Malik had said it was permanent, so for now the ring was harmless to him, in the ocean or not.

"A-Alright then. I'll tell you where the ring is!"

The two blonde boys smirked, and Malik walked up and gently picked up Ryou from the floor. "Actually, you could just go and get it for us. We wouldn't want any trickery now, would we?" as a dangerous glint shone from his lavender eyes.

Outside of the building, Yami, Yugi, Joey, Tristan and Tea lingered.

"I don't care what you say, we gotta get some answers outta him!" the tall blonde yelled at Yami.

"Don't be so obnoxious Joey" the girl scolded him, grabbing the hairs on the back of his neck and twisting them hard. As Joey crumpled to the ground, she turned to Yugi, "Actually, I do agree with him. Even if Ryou isn't ready to talk, from the sound of it Malik and Marik won't care. I don't know how good a hiding place the ring is in, they know that he knows where it is, so they'll come after him again…"

"Yami?" Yugi asked softly, as everyone turned towards the spirit, who was gazing, thunderstruck, towards the apartment building. Though they were still a good distance away, the white hair of the boy stumbling down the steps was unmistakable, as were the two boys calmly stepping after him.

"RYOU! C'mon guys! We gotta go help him!" Joey shouted and pulled on Tristan's shirt collar, pointing towards the group.

They ran across the street after Marik and Malik when Yami stopped them. "Hold on, I don't think they've noticed us yet, despite Joey's yelling. Malik still has the rod, and from here even I couldn't stop him if he decided to use it on Ryou, let's just see where they're going, alright?" he said firmly, holding back Joey and Tristan, who clearly were intent on saving Ryou.

After a short walk they arrived on Domino Pier, and Malik turned around to face his unseen trackers. "Why don't you come on out Pharoah? I know that you're curious about where the ring is. I believe that Ryou is about to show us, right Ryou?" he shoved the trembling boy, who nearly fell onto the sand.

Growling, Yami stepped out, holding the chain of his Millenium Puzzle threateningly. "I don't know what's going on, but if you hurt him I'll—"

"You'll what?!" Malik snarled condenscendingly. "Before you could even scratch me your little friend would be dead! Besides, I wasn't planning on hurting him…unless he was lying to me…were you?" he asked Ryou.

Ryou stood up, avoiding the gaze of both Malik and Yami. "H-he's in the ocean…under the cliff…I threw him down there…" he stuttered and pointed towards the water.

"You'd better be right boy…" Malik growled and stalked over into the shallow waves. He took the rod from a belt loop and let it lie flat in his right hand. On its own, to the startled gasps of Tea, Yugi, Joey, and Tristan, it turned so that the eye pointed towards the water. "Huh…I guess you were telling the truth after all…" Malik muttered, and then turned towards a collection of booths on the beachfront. "So then, who's up for some diving?"

-------------------------------------An hour or so later------------------------------------------

Three boys lined up along deck of the rental boat. The two taller boys, Marik and Malik, stood confidently in their gear, while the third, Ryou, hunched nervously. Noting his anxiety, Malik rubbed the sharp edge of his Rod menacingly, the silent threat of what would happen if he failed to recover the ring.

Taking a deep breath and biting the mouthpiece, the trio fell backwards off the boat and into the surprisingly cold water. Ryou drifted, uncertain of which direction was up, when one of the other divers grabbed his neck and pointed him downward.

With a growing sense of foreboding in his stomch, Ryou led the way to the ocean bottom. As they neared it a massive pile of rubble came into view, as his heart sank, there was no way he could find the ring in all this---

Suddenly, for the briefest of moments and golden light flashed, as if it were calling to them, and one of the divers, most likely Marik, swam eagerly downward, a trail of bubbles marking his path and dragging Ryou behind him. With hand gestures he ordered Ryou to start shifting through the rubble from which the light had shown.

Once past a layer of plants and sand he saw it, the edge of the burlap bag he had thrown the ring away in. He started and shuddered, but Malik saw it and had him keep going.

Taking deep breaths of the stale air, Ryou moved some rocks out of the way and soon realized that one boulder was too heavy to lift or even roll away. Hesitatingly, he pulled on the sack and felt the ring within it. Noticing that it still would not move he pulled even harder, twisting the sack to get it out from under the rock when something gave and the bag ripped.

For a short moment he was elated that he had accomplished his goal, until the another diver snatched the bag from him, and the other dragged him upwards by the wrist. The shimmering light from the surface came closer and closer, until—

"Gasp!" Ryou broke the surface and spat out the mouthpiece. He began to paddle towards the boat, in the unlikely hope that somehow the other two divers had sank, the ring with them, when they two emerged and followed him aboard.

"Ryou! Are you okay?!" Yugi asked anxiously as he pulled off his goggles and wrapped a towel around him. He shivered, and shook his head, though he secretly thought to himself that perhaps he would never be okay again.

Without even unwrapping the bag, Malik ordered, "Take us back ashore."

Back on the beach, Marik carefully unfolded the bag, with the crowd surrounding him. He reached inside and pulled out a small bent-up metal object.

"That's it?" Joey said obliviously, and once again Tea twisted the hairs on his neck to shut him up.

Yugi reached down, ignoring Yami's attempt to hold him back, and scraped away the algae growing on he object. The signature gold shone through, and a few minutes of cleaning later it was obvious that it was in fact the Millenium Ring. However, only the wadjet eye was still clear, it was bent out of shape from being crushed under the rocks. One of the needles was missing, probably still stuck under the boulder underwater.

After a moment's pause, Malik broke the silence. "Put it on."

"Wh-what? No! No way!" Ryou yelled as he staggered back. Joey, Tristan, and Tea stood in defense of Ryou. Yugi shouted, "No, you can't! The spirit's still in there and he could be hurt if he puts it on! What if his mind gets taken over again! Right Yami?!" he turned towards his twin, who had also risen.

"He's right. You have the ring now, there's no need to keep hurting Ryo—" he was cut off as Marik and Malik rose, the latter holding the item in his hand, his eyes only on Ryou. The psychotic personality grinned and held up the battered ring, clearly seeing someone else already in his victim.

Yami stood in front of him, but Marik shoved him aside with Malik bringing up the rear, the item in his hands. He took the rotting string which was still attached to the ring and tied it around Ryou's neck, against Yami's protests.

Ryou stiffened as the cold familiar metal clanged around his neck. He expected the remaining needles to jam into his chest again, and that horrible cruel voice to awaken once again inside his head with some new means of torture to welcome itself back into his soul and then---

Nothing happened.

-------------------------------At Domino City Airport-------------------------------------

Meanwhile, at the airport a young Egyptian woman dressed in white robes and eye-popping golden jewelry stepped off a small jet on the tarmac. She held only a small carry-on bag, and around her neck gleamed the signature wadjet eye on a golden necklace.

Her normally composed face had started, as if she had just realized she had forgotten something, or had received some terrible news.

In a quiet stunned voice, she said, "He's…gone…"

Okay then…Sorry it took so long to update, but I've been so busy with school lately, but this chapter is extra long, so maybe that makes up for it…(looks at angry mob with torches)…maybe not.

A-ny-way…don't forget to review. My goal for this chapter is to get up to ten reviews. DOUBLE-DIGITS WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cough cought…don't forget to tell me what you think. Stuff like, "This is good!" is much appreciated (perhaps too much so), but remember, you gotta tell me specifically what you liked and didn't like about it.

The future? Kinda soap opera-ish, but you'll get it when it comes up.

Specifically, tell me what you think of the Marik character, I think I'm not giving him enough presence, agree/disagree?


	7. Chapter 7: Seconds, Anyone?

Lost in the Waves

Chapter 7: Seconds, Anyone?

----------------------Back in time a little bit--------------------------------

Bakura was by now no stranger to the speedboats that passed swiftly on the surface without even noticing the malevolent spirit trapped beneath. However, this was the first time one had ever actually stopped.

He leaned back against nothing and watched curiously as three dark figures plunged into the water, most likely tourists. "What's there to see?" he said loudly, knowing that they could not hear him.

However, once the air bubbles issuing from their tanks cleared up, he recognized one of them instantly. "Who could forget that hair?" muttered Bakura, "Heh heh…come crawling back eh? But who did you bring with you?" he gently drifted over to the divers to see who the other two were.

"Malik?! What the hell is he doing--?! I get it now, he must've forced Ryou into coming down here. Oh well, not that I'm complaining. I've been down here for way too long a time."

He then shot ahead of them towards the pile of rubble that hid his seal, the Millenium Ring, and waited impatiently for the divers to catch up. Silently he floated above them and watched Ryou begin shifting some rocks and plants out of the way in the approximate place the ring was buried.

"C'mon, c'mon…" Yet to his disbelieving anger, Ryou couldn't seem to roll a large boulder off the bag the ring was contained in. "Weak little—"

Suddenly, without warning, a terrible pain unlike any other he had ever felt tore through his body. "What the f--?!" he screamed as bright light flashed in his eyes and quickly the familiar ocean scene vanished and was replaced by darkness…

-----------------------------Back on the beach------------------------------------

Joey, Tristan, Tea, Yugi, and Yami looked on warily at Ryou. Yugi sent a thought through his mind link to Yami, "Wh-What's going on? Does the spirit have control of Ryou again?"

Yami remained silent as he peered closely into the face of the huddled boy on the sand.

"Ryou…?"

For a moment there was no response, and then the boy suddenly jerked up off the sand. The group recoiled in response, unsure of what or whom they would see under his bangs.

Instead, a gentle though startled face looked back at them, "I-It's okay! I've got the ring on, but I can't feel him at all!"

Joey and Tristan, as a result from having held their breath all that time, collapsed onto the sand panting heavily. Tea smiled with Ryou in relief along with Yugi. Yami only stood in complete confusion.

Meanwhile, the group had forgotten about the two who had brought them to Domino Pier to begin with.

"You lie" Yami heard a soft voice utter as Ryou was suddenly jerked up off the ground by his long hair.

"I know he's in there! Lift the seal and bring him out!" Malik snarled into Ryou's face, dangerous outrage in his eyes.

"B-but, I can't. It's not like he can't come out, he's just not there anymore—" he cut off as Malik's grip on his head loosened and he fell back onto the sand. He crawled backwards toward Yugi in fear, his gaze still fixed on his attacker.

"Feh…I'll give you a little while to lift the spell on the ring and bring the spirit back out…by the time I return I expect to see either him or your carcass!" and with that he shot a glare towards his twin, Marik, who looked back nervously and then switched his stare to the trembling Ryou. Then the two boys walked back up the beach, Malik in the lead with Marik following along, until they turned a corner and vanished.

With their exit the group turned back towards Ryou and the pendant around his neck. Experimentally with shaking hands Ryou took hold of the necklace and lifted it off from around his neck, then put it back on. "N-no change…at all…" he stuttered in disbelief, as he watched the sunlight glance off the wrecked item that had once ruled his life.

--------------------------Back at the Game Shop--------------------------

Tristan, Joey, and Tea had decided somewhat unwillingly to return home, leaving Yugi, Yami, and Ryou to walk back to the Kame Game Shop, where Grandpa Motou anxiously awaited them.

"Grandpa, what's wrong?" Yugi asked as he saw him pacing back and forth in front of the store, clearly waiting for their return. "I'm sorry we took off without telling you, but you see we—"

Grandpa interrupted his grandson and turned towards Ryou and Yami, "Actually" he said slowly, "You have a guest."

The three boys rushed inside with Grandpa tailing them and saw an oddly familiar woman with long black hair and a distinctive golden necklace. She turned around and they recognized her instantly.

"Ishuzu?' Yami cried out, "What are you doing here? Your brother and Malik were just here, were you with them or something?"

She narrowed her eyes and spat, "I would never ally with that demon my little brother brought out of himself. I had advised him against it, but as usual he ignored me. I decided to keep an eye on him once the ritual was done, so when he flew to Japan I followed him, especially since I overhead some of what Malik's been making my brother do…"

"What do you mean?" Yugi asked anxiously.

Ishuzu replied, "Well, it was late one night and I was just walking nearby and I heard Malik screaming something at Marik. Normally I just try to ignore him since he acts quite strangely most of the time, but I heard him saying some thing about the Millenium Ring. I know firsthand from your duel with him that the spirit within it is quite dangerous, and since Malik seems to have taken an interest in that item I knew I couldn't allow him to be near it alone, so I went to Domino City in search of him!"

"An interest, what do you mean by that?" Yugi asked again.

"That…I'm not very sure about…" she said slowly, "All I know is that Malik forced my brother back here to Japan in search of him. But I'm not the best person to ask what he is planning. Isn't Bakura the one you should be asking?" she turned to the teen, who was startled to be referred to by that name.

"Please" he said, "Just call me Ryou…usually I call the spirit Bakura instead…and about the other thing…" he turned to the two Yugis and Grandpa who were all gazing at him curiously, some more intent then others, "I'd rather not talk about that, and you'd be better off not knowing…but since you're from Egypt and know more about the Millenium items than I do, maybe you could explain what's happened to the ring…" he gazed down at the necklace, and then took it off and laid it gently on the kitchen table. It looked very sorry ideed, as in the light of a nearby light all the dents and scratches were clearly visible. The missing needle completed the picture.

Seemingly unsurprised at its appearance, Ishuzu walked toward the table slowly and touched it with her fingertip, as if expecting it to shock her. Though she remained silent, small frown lines appeared between her eyes and she then turned to Ryou. "And you say you felt nothing when you first put it on again?"

"That's right."

"Try putting it one now" she commanded. Gingerly he retied the ring around his neck and looked back up at her. "Nothing", he said.

She responded quickly, "Do you have the Millenium Key? I understand that you took it from Malik, and it may just be what we need to figure out what's going on here…"

"Yes I do…but how did you know that?" Ryou asked but with a silent command from Yami's eyes quickly ran to the guest bedroom he had been staying in.

A few minutes later he returned, the gleaming item clasped in his right hand. "Here you go!" he panted slightly and handed it to her like a baton.

"No need to worry" she said soothingly and then held out her hand. "If you would look to accompany me into…Ryou's mind, then please take my hand" she said without looking towards the group. Instantly Yami took her hand in his and she raised her eyebrow at him. Once Yugi had hesitatingly taken her other hand she then held the key up against Ryou's forehead and turned it in an invisible lock. A flash of golden light shone and the trio shut their eyes against it. When Yami reopened his, he was in a familiar, but different world.

-----------------------------Inside Ryou's mind------------------------------------

Reminiscent of Yugi's mind when they were sharing a body, Ishuzu, Yami, and Yugi stood in a darkened hallway. A cold damp mist flowed around the ground up to their knees, yet there was no wind to stir it. To the left a bright sunshine yellow light shone through, illuminating part of the hall. It came from a partially opened doorway, and it welcomed the trio instantly.

Yami and Yugi looked around and saw, first of all, a large table at the end of the room. Yugi trotted toward it and recognized it on the spot, it was the very same table they had played an RPG game on once before with Ryou. Several lead figures were scattered on the surface. It was dusty, as if it hadn't been used in years.

Yami kept looking around and saw tall bookshelves that disappeared up into light clouds hovering far above them. Scanning some of the titles, he saw that they were mostly historical books, especially about Egypt. Looking to his right he saw Ishuzu reading one of them. He looked over her shoulder and saw the words just stop in the middle of the page.

Noticing his confused expression, she explained, "He hasn't finished reading it yet."

High up on the walls several small dusty windows stood open, with broken padlocks hanging off the edges, and "outside" bright blue sky and white clouds could be seen.

"Those probably came from losing the ring" Ishuzu said, pointing upward, noting what Yami and Yugi had already figured out for themselves.

"Let's keep looking in the hall" Yami said darkly and headed towards the door.

Somewhat reluctant to leave the cheery room, Yugi and Ishuzu walked out into the hall, which seemed more dark and forbidding than ever. The three began striding down the hall, which never turned nor ever seemed to end.

After several minutes Yami became impatient when he looked around at the walls and saw that they were becoming rougher, as if they were made of stone. Meanwhile the fog around them was lifting slightly to surround them, he could barely see Yugi and Ishuzu at his sides. He was turning his head left and right in search of them when he bumped into a wall.

He staggered back, and realized that what he had bumped into was not a wall but another door, but this one was shut.

----------------------------------------Meanwhile, in the Motou kitchen--------------------------

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRGH!!!!!" Yugi screamed as he hurtled through a dark tunnel towards a distant yellow pinprick of light.

_Am I dead_? He wondered for a brief second. One moment he had been walking right beside Yami and approaching the end of the hall when he had been picked up and thrown away by some invisible force. Now he was apparently heading towards his unexpected demise when he caught a glimpse of someone flying alongside him.

He turned his head to look when it crashed against the familiar linoleum floor. He gasped and looked around.

"The kitchen?"

There was a thud and the floor vibrated slightly when Ishuzu landed beside him out of thin air. "Are you okay, Yugi?" she asked anxiously looking at the rattled boy.

"I-I'm fine! What happened?"

"It seems we were no longer welcome inside Ryou's mind. I hope that Yami knows what he's doing…" she glanced upward at Yami, who still remained standing with his eyes closed and right hand loosely gripping the millennium key still touching Ryou's forehead. Ryou had not woken up yet either.

"What! Is something wrong?!" he asked.

"Well…since he is still inside Ryou's mind then either whatever threw us out has swallowed his mind or he has been allowed to progress down the hall. In either case, all we can do is wait for him to free himself…"

"Yami! Partner! Can you heeaaar meeee………" Yugi's voice faded away.

-----------------------------------Back with Yami again-------------------------------

"Yugi? Ishuzu? Where are you?" he called out.

Getting no response, he turned back towards the door and noticed he was in a dead end. "Guess this is the one then…" and he turned the knob.

To his surprise it opened, but no light shone from the doorway. Peering inside, he could barely see anything, it was even darker than in the hall, and a wave a cold air passed through him from the room. He took a small step inside when something fast and cold brushed by him, like a gust of wind, and he heard soft footsteps disappearing down the hall. He turned around to catch a glimpse of whatever it was that had passed him when the bright light returned and the room, the halls, the darkness, and the footsteps all became a blur and suddenly Yami found himself back in the Motou's kitchen.

"Yami! Are you okay!" Yugi shouted as he ran up to his partner and shook his shoulders.

"What…What do you mean?"

"When we got to the end of the hall Yugi and I were thrown out of Ryou's mind, but you were still in there. We thought for sure that you had become ensnared, but here you are again…" Ishuzu said from behind Yami's back.

"It appears that you were the only one allowed to find the door. It makes sense, seeing that you are a fellow millennium spirit. What did you see in there?"

With the spotlight returned to him, Yami didn't know what to say.

"Well" he said at last, "I found a door and I opened it, but it was too dark to see anything…" he remained silent but then recalled, "Wait…there was something else…when I opened the door I saw…no, I felt something or someone run by me. I heard footsteps, but I was returned back here before I could see it."

"Hmmm" Ishuzu muttered and then walked away from the other three, Grandpa and Yugi helping Yami to stand up again. "Then…maybe the spirit is alive but isn't coming out…the only way to know for sure is to force him out without harming Ryou…yes…" she said to herself and turned back towards them, "I know what to do!"

"Yugi" she said firmly to the young boy, "Do the same thing you did to yourself to release Yami into his own body to Ryou!"

"What? Why?!" Yugi replied, while behind him his twin gasped in comprehension.

"Yugi" he explained patiently to both him and Ryou, "If you force the spirit into his own body then we'll know if he's in the ring or not! And Ryou will be free!"

"And so will he…" he thought privately to himself.

For a moment Yugi thought and doubted, then smiled, "Yeah! This could actually work!"

"Wh…what are you gonna do to release him?" Ryou asked nervously, looking from one eager face to the other.

-------------------------------------A short while later--------------------------

Once his preparations were complete, Yugi asked Ryou to lie down on the couch with the ring on. Grandpa and Ishuzu looked on curiously, while Yami, familiar with this procedure, observed somewhat protectively.

Yugi touched the wadjet eye in the middle of the ring with his forefinger, much like Ishuzu had done earlier, and a bright white light burst from it and blinded everyone in the room.

For a few long moments Yami felt he had been blinded, when at last the light sucked back into the ring, which was now no longer around Ryou's neck, but on a limp body collapsed next to the couch. At first it was seemed to be Ryou, but the actual one sat up on the couch, gazing down in horror at the body on the ground.

The person, whom the group assumed to be Bakura himself, was panting heavily on his side, his eyes wide open and staring at nothing with only a blanket fallen from the couch to cover him, much as Yami was when he had first assumed his new body.

-----------------------------Meanwhile, back under the waves-----------------------------

The spirit was drifting slowly through the water, not just for fun, but because he could no longer move.

"This doesn't even make sense!" he raged, "I'm a spirit now! How could I have felt pain back there when that brat snatched the ring away! AND WHY AM I STILL HERE?!!!!"

He gazed furiously around him, his transparent body still unwilling to obey his commands, when the same white light shone from the underneath the rocks. When the light hit him he resumed control over himself again, and saw that the light was shining from something still trapped beneath the rubble.

Upon closer inspection he realized it, "Why that little--! He tore the ring up! Not that it was doing so well in the first place, but still!" Suddenly, he noticed that, what with the rocks that Ryou had moved out of the way in search of the ring, part of the bag that had housed it could be seen, visibly pinned under a boulder.

Hesitantly, Bakura stretched out his hand and touched it.

As soon as his fingers hit metal, which he especially noticed as he had actually managed to touch the metal instead of his fingers passing right through it, he felt the cold of the water.

The currents ripped by him, and it hit him, _he was in a body_. He thrashed about in confusion for a moment, and then realizing his predicament, shot up towards the surface when once again he hit that invisible barrier. "Shit! Don't tell me I still need the ring!"

Fighting against the currents, he swam back down to the pile of rocks. Feeling the need for air building up in his newly formed lungs, he tore through the rock layer, ignoring the cuts on his arms and the blood swirling around him until at last he uncovered the small part of the ring that had been left behind.

His view was getting hazy from both the blood and the lack of oxygen and gripping the needle in his hand he swam with all his remaining strength towards the surface that he had been staring longingly at for so long.

Just before he found air he lost consciousness from the time he had spent beneath digging out the ring. The waves picked up his limp body, his hand still gripping part of the ring, and washed him up on shore…

-------------------------------------------Author's Note(s)-----------------------------------------

Wow…that took forever to write, you had better appreciate it. Say…by REVIEWING!!!

By the way, last time when I said the goal was 10 reviews I meant 10 reviews total for the story, and 12 more than exceeds expectations. Heh heh…E…anyway be sure to tell me what you think. I know it's kinda soapy, and I'll explain what just happened in the last chapter.

In this story keep in mind that Bakura is not just an extra personality of Ryou's but actually a whole being on his own, so if I should decide to split him into two people it doesn't mean there are 3 Ryou's. However, Malik is actually just a really weird part of Marik's personality, so I wouldn't split him up. Not that I would want to. He has enough problems on his own already.

Future plans for the story…I know how I want to end it (kinda) but I'm not too sure how to get there…so if the next few chapters are total BS go ahead and flame me. No spam though. In e-mail or canned form. Bad.

Don't forget, even if you're not a member of this site you can still review. I think, if the site won't let you I can't help you cuz I tried disabling it but whaddya know, I suck at all things computer.

Also, updates: I tried weekly but thanks to a combination of laziness, writer's block, impending finals, and a computer-hogging roommate it's gonna be every 2-3 weeks until my winter break. Then send a lot of reviews to force me to finish the story.

-------Last minute editing…I meant to post this last week but there was some sort of error…

Ciao!

And remember, the review button is right down there! (follow dots and arrows)

----------------


	8. Chapter 8: Uncertainties

Lost in the Waves

Chapter 8: Uncertainty

"So what are we going to do now?" Yugi asked softly, afraid to speak louder in case the resting spirit upstairs should suddenly awaken. "I mean, well…we may have freed Ryou but now we have a problem on our hands.

The object of his questioning sat back in his chair and let out a long breath. Never had the kitchen felt so tense before. Even Grandpa had the sense to avoid Yugi's question. Yami glanced toward the door into the living room, where Ryou lay huddled in an armchair, still staring at the spot where his old captor had suddenly appeared out of thin air. He held the mangled Ring in his hands after Yugi had snatched it off Bakura's neck the instant he overcame his horror.

Yami then glanced up, mildly disturbed by the thought that in the room immediately above him, a malevolent spirit lay.

"Maybe we should give him back the Ring…" he suggested, only to be interrupted by a crash. Grandpa had dropped a plate on the floor, as clearly he had been waiting for Yami to say something.

"WHAT?! Yami, we can't do that! If he gets the Ring he'll wake up and then Ryou's totally screwed cuz he tossed the spirit into the ocean!" Yugi yelled and then trailed off into a hyperventilating rant as his partner returned to his thoughts.

"True, Ryou may be in danger…but judging from Malik's visit the spirit may be too…" he thought privately to himself as the image of Bakura and Ryou, side by side, came to mind. He looked up towards the ceiling as if trying to look through it. "I wonder what he's thinking…"

------------------------------------Meanwhile, at Domino Beach------------------------------

It was still early in the day, and a group of teens parked on the road nearby and then walked down the gritty set of stone stairs leading to the beach.

"I can't believe you're making us go right now!" One pale girl said indignantly to another. "I keep telling you, you can't tan at—"

"Hey!" she replied, "Who will people believe, me with the great tan or you, the albino?"

"Ha ha" the other said sarcastically, "Well in 20 years when I'm a huge success and you're dying of skin cancer we'll see who's laughing!"

The two girls continued bickering as they trotted down the beach in search of a good spot to lay down their towels.

The tanned girl looked up towards the sun as if measuring its rays, and noticed the light glinting off some huddled mass on the beach. She hesitatingly moved forward, and saw that the light was reflecting off of something blindingly white. "Hey, check this out!" she called out to the other girl and ran forward to investigate. As she approached, the white material took shape. "What is that…hair?" she thought as her speed increased. She screeched to a sudden stop, "OH MY GOD! Akane! Go call 911! I think it's a dead guy!"

As the Akane rushed back to the towel for her cell, the tanned girl sank to her knees. "Maybe he's still alive…I should check for a pulse…" She crawled forward slowly and reluctantly, in case the boy turned out to be dead. Her trembling hand brushed aside the hair to reveal, rather thankfully, not the grotesque face of a bloated drowning victim but instead an extremely pale boy. "About my age…" she thought in relief as she pressed her fingers into the side of his neck. "There!" it was faint, but she felt a steady beat. His chest still rose and fell, and with a blush barely visible through her dark skin she realized that he was completely naked. She stared at him, wondering how he had gotten here.

"He's got his eyes closed but he's actually pretty…" she paused for words. "Striking, maybe…" a glint caught her eye, and she saw that he still clutched something in his hand. She reached out and pried his fingers apart, a surprisingly strong grip. It looked like a part of a necklace. She took it from him and his breathing suddenly grew ragged and got so low she thought it had stopped. "Akane! HURRY UP! I think he's dying!"

Unsure of what to do, she ran towards the road to flag down cars for help, the needle abandoned on the sand, away from the boy…

--------------------------------------------Back at the Game Shop-----------------------------

Yugi was deep in thought when his eyes suddenly shot open. "Wait a minute!" he yelled excitedly as Yami and Grandpa looked up.

"What is it?" Yami asked curiously, and Yugi spouted off, "Now that Bakura's out, Malik won't care about Ryou anymore! Why don't we just give him to Ishuzu, then we won't have to worry about him!"

He started pacing across the kitchen floor excitedly, an easy solution seemingly unfolding before his eyes. "And if they come back and ask about him, Ishuzu can handle them! It's like killing two birds with one stone!"

Yami endured Yugi's endless stream of ideas until he got an opening, "But what about Bakura?"

"What do you mean?" Yugi replied, confused, "He'd go with Ishuzu and Malik, of course."

Yami shuffled his feet slightly, and then looked up, "Remember how at the end of Battle City Malik gave us that spell to split apart?"

"Yes…" Yugi said softly, reminiscing on that day. "What about it?"

"Somehow I think that getting the spell to Ryou was more important than giving it to us."

"Then why not give it to just him?"

"Well, you know how untrusting both Ryou and Bakura are…they'd think the spell would send them to the Shadow Realm or something…so Malik gave the spell to us because Ryou would believe that if we thought the spell was okay then he could take it safely!"

"But why want Ryou and Bakura to separate?"

"That's what I'm afraid of…" Yami drifted back into thought. Something about the way Malik had talked to and looked at Ryou before was unsettling. "Which is why we can't let Malik get a hold of Bakura."

Yugi thought it over, "Well…I don't really like either Bakura or Malik, but wherever Malik goes blood and pain follows…" as the duel between Malik and Mai came to mind, where Mai had nearly been tortured to death, or at least to insanity.

"Actually, the best person to decide this right now is Ryou" he glanced into the living room towards Ryou, who was clearly trying not to hear what they were saying.

"Ryou?" Yami asked gently, "Did you hear what we said?" as he stepped into the living room.

"Everything…" Ryou's resigned and monotone voice startled Yami. "You'd think he'd be a bit more nervous about this…" he thought.

Ryou at last stood up from the chair and turned to face them. "Listen…I know you expect me to want Bakura out of here…after all he's done to me, but I do know a lot more about Malik's interests in Bakura enough to want to avoid him too…maybe I should just leave, Malik doesn't know that we've split bodies yet, so if I leave he'll never know whe—"

He was cut off as both Yugis raised loud protests. "Ryou!" Yugi was nearly shouting, "Malik has the Millenium Rod! He could find you wherever you go, but if you stay here we…er…Yami can protect you!"

Ryou's eyes flickered to Yami for a moment, hope shining through them. "Yes…that's the best move we can make right now…" Yami said slowly but with certainty.

"T-Thank you…thanks guys, I know that it must be difficult for you, after all this time to have to deal with all this Millenium stuff again…" Ryou turned to arrange his makeshift bed on the couch. With his back still turned, he said, "And, unfortunately, you're right about the spell."

Both Yugis and Grandpa turned immediately towards him, half-formed questions dying on their lips as Ryou lay down on the couch and shut his eyes. Eyes closed, he muttered to them, "I'll just rest for a bit right now, you don't have to stay…" And he thought, _And I hope to God that I never wake up_.

------------------------------------------At a nearby hospital-----------------------------------

An ambulance with screaming sirens braked suddenly before the open glass doors of Domino City Hospital. The back doors flung open and two personnel garbed in white uniforms leaped out then reached back in and dragged out a stretcher. The gurney's legs unfolded and hit the ground with a bang, which went ignored by the technicians as they practically flew across the pavement into the building.

They held an oxygen mask over his face as a nurse ran over to check his pulse.

"He's still not breathing!" another technician shouted and replaced the mask.

The stretcher was wheeled down the hall and small grains of sand rolled off and scattered across the floor, noticed only a passing janitor, who scowled. "Hook him up to an ECG!" a doctor ordered. A steady beep resonated from the bulky machine as very cords who stuck onto the pale boy's arm and chest. A thin blanket was wrapped around his lower half to protect against the cold, and the exposed skin had goosebumps.

"Shit!" the doctor swore when a long hum emitted from the machine and the line went flat. As if on cue a nurse wheeled up a defibrillator. He seized the two pedals and rubbed them together and then placed them on the teen's white chest. A high tone sounded and the boy's back arched and sank back down. The line on the ECG began to waver as the heartbeat returned.

"Phew..." the doctor and nurses sighed in relief and the patient was wheeled into an empty room. "So what's the story on him? Any family we can contact?"

"Actually, no." One of the nurses replied hastily after talking with the paramedics. "He didn't have a wallet or any other form of identification on him, not even any clothes. Just this…thing" and she held up the broken, golden needle. The doctor looked it over, clearly unimpressed.. "Huh…that's it?"

"So what do we do with him?"

"Well, he looks underage, maybe we can contact--?!"

At that very moment the boy's heart went out again and his breathing stopped.

"Quick! Get the………………………………." The boy's eyes slowly dragged open. The movement of the people around him came only as tan and white blurs. After just a moment they closed again.

Several hours later...

The doctor from before sighed as he glanced into the unknown boy's room from the doorway. Now he was hooked up to several large machines to breathe for him.

"I don't understand it…there weren't any signs of brain trauma or…well…anything at all! He's perfectly healthy, it's like there's no one in there!"

"What do we do now?" a nurse asked.

"Only one thing we can do now…we can't unplug him without his guardian's permission, so he'll have to stay here" he looked around down the hall and spotted a policeman. "How about this…we'll just put it on the news, maybe someone who knows him will show up and make this decision for us…" he shook his head wearily and stepped away.

The nurse looked back into the room, clearly unwilling to let this patient go. "I wonder what happened…" she thought to herself. She put her hand into her pocket and removed the golden needle found with the boy, and gently placed it on the nightstand beside the bed.

------------------------------------------At a bar across town----------------------------------

Leaning against the sticky counter, avoiding the gum stuck underneath it, Malik gazed out over the crowd twisting and turning on the dance floor. The air was thick of smoke and the smell of spilled liquor coating the floor and even some of the people. Adrenaline and excitement also pulsed throughout the large, dimmed room. The thick atmosphere and the anonymity of the crowd made the club the perfect place to be unnoticed.

"Here you go" his hikari Marik said softly as he approached, two drinks in hand. He set them down on the bar counter and sat down in a stool, praying that his yami's eyes, so like his own, would remain focused on the crowd.

Nevertheless, Malik turned to stare at him, ignoring the beer nearby. Marik's breath quickened, even though his face was calm in his eyes simmering rage and impatience flickered. He tensed slightly, expecting a blow which would naturally go unnoticed in the crowd, but instead soft words assaulted him.

Holding down the other in his stare, Malik quietly began to recite whatever he had been working on as he stared blankly over the bar, "You were born within a tomb, and though after your initiation ceremony in the Tomb Keeper's Guild I emerged, you were still taught about the…Pharoah…" he spat out, "And also about the Millenium items…" he paused for thought, as Marik wondered where he could be going with this.

"Then you, or perhaps your _beloved_ sister might know what has happened to the Millenium Ring, correct?"

At this, Marik was rendered speechless. Truth be told, he had no idea why Ryou had maintained control over his mind when he wore the Ring on the beach, but if he told his yami this he would lose all use for him. "And it's not like him to keep useless people around…" Marik thought agitatedly.

When he looked up he realized that Malik was still staring at him, waiting for an answer. "W-Well, maybe if I consulted with my sister together we could repair the Ring. After all, Ishuzu has the Millenium Key now, so with it we could search Ryou's mind!" He paused for breath, hoping that he would buy it.

Malik's eyes glazed over as he thought, and then a small leering smile crossed his face. He blindly stretched out behind him and snatched one of the long-forgotten drinks off the table and brought it to his lips. He took some and then laughed loudly, "And that is why I keep you alive, hikari!" and drained the glass.

Hit with a sudden wave of relief, Marik, took a small sip himself. Hoping that the inebriated spirit beside him had lost his intensity, he asked a question he had held inside him for months.

"Malik?" he muttered softly.

His yami ignored him, still deep inside his second glass, which Marik assumed he had taken from the bar.

"Why do you keep me around you, even though you have your own body now? And Bakura, do you really lo—" he was suddenly cut off as a tanned hand identical to his own shot out and wrapped around his neck, hoisting him off his stool and into the air. Nobody seemed to notice as the life was slowly choked out of him. "Did you just question me?" the spirit asked slowly, his gaze as clear as ever.

Struggling to breathe, Marik managed to cough out, "I-I'm sorry Malik-sama, it's just that I—"

"Enough!" and Marik fell back to the floor, gasping for breath. He yelped as Malik seized him with a handful of hair and brought him up to eye-level, and he snarled into his face,

"If it'll shut you up, I'll tell you exactly what I want. Yes, I _want_ the spirit, if that's what you mean. And no, my own body isn't enough, it isn't enough to just have what you have, I always have to have more than a pathetic weakling like you! And I need you…" he jerked him even closer to his face, "To keep that wretched excuse of a king off my back!"

He set Marik down in his stool, and then leaned down and placed both his hands on either side of Marik's head, braced against the counter. "Is that clear?" Marik nodded, terrified beyond his senses, and Malik leaned back against the counter again and seized Marik's still-full drink, and drank it all in one gulp.

------------------------------------Back at Game Shop--------------------------------------------

It was early morning, and bird song was heard through the open window through which sunlight streamed in. It was to this bright morning light that the still figure on the bed at last opened its eyes.

"Ugh…what's with this light…" the figure swore quietly to itself and then sat up,

"Where the hell am I?"

He looked around him quickly, all signs of exhaustion vanishing. He felt a weight around his neck and saw it was some sort of large battered golden dream-catcher thing hanging around his neck on a rough string. "Huh…" he muttered softly, and then stepped out of bed.

He wore a loose, clearly-borrowed T-shirt and baggy PJ pants, and he walked down the stairs hesitatingly. He heard no one else stirring.

He wondered into a room and saw a sort of makeshift door to his right. "Does it lead to another room?" he thought, and experimentally pulled on the handle. He was greeted with a blast of cold air, and he stepped back to survey his findings. Several cartons and glass containers greeted him, and he reached in roughly to open them. The first one he grabbed was heavy and splashed inside promisingly.

"At last!" he thought as he tore it open. His throat felt like it was full of sand. He had just brought it to his lips when a small boy appeared in the doorway. He had the strangest hair ever, with three different colors, PJs, and a scared look on his face.

Staring at the elaborate necklace, he stuttered, "B-Bakura!"

The figure, taken by surprise, set down the container. In response to the boy's question, he simply cocked his head, "Bakura?"

Poofballs!

----------------------------------------Author's Notes--------------------------------------------

O-kay then, finally finished that chapter. I think it might be longer than the others, or it just took me longer to write.

A lot of people had questions about the last chapter's contents, which I think I explained last time. Hopefully that bar scene (added in at last minute) which clear some stuff up. Realize that I left some stuff unclear to increase "tension" a foreign words whose definition I have twisted for my own benefit.

As for that last scene, yes yes yes…not only have I split Bakura into two different personalities, but one's in a coma and the other with no memory! OMG! IT'S JUST LIKE A SOAP!

Why yes, it is.

I'll try to answer your reader questions, provided that you review. Sorry that this update's so late, but I got lazy on my winter vacation in Tahoe and started getting back into InuYasha fanfiction instead. Thankfully however, the next manga book came out so now I'm back. Any questions? None? Really? Well I'll just ask myself the question I'm sure you're all planning to ask me after you read this particularly chapter:

Q: Are you high, or just incredibly stupid?

A: (Pause)…I assure you, I am not high.

R&R my devoted readers!! (Gets pelted with garbage) Fine, whatever. Come on, just 1 more to 20.


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